


Cracking the Code

by layalee



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 01, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Attempt at Humor, But he's secretly a sweetheart on the inside, F/M, Felicity is a genius, Felicity is also a hero, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Malcolm Merlyn is still a bad guy, Overwatch - Freeform, POV Felicity Smoak, Sassy Felicity, The Vigilante is a thing, broody oliver
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-23 19:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7477689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/layalee/pseuds/layalee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Felicity gives Oliver a lot of nicknames, Diggle is amused, and Oliver is trying to recruit our favorite IT girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cracking the Code

**Author's Note:**

> Arrow belongs to DC and the CW. No copyright infringement intended. 
> 
> This idea has been bouncing around in my head and staying unfinished in my laptop until I sat my butt down and wrote the ending. It's not much, but I love it, and I hope you guys like it too!

**Cracking the Code**

“I haven’t done anything wrong.”

The dark-skinned man across from her cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “No?” he queried.

“Nope,” Felicity Smoak said, hiding her nervousness behind some bravado. For she did have something to hide. “You have nothing against me.”

For a moment, Felicity observed the area she was in. While it was arranged as a classic interrogation room, there were obvious signs that it was a set-up. It was in the too-shiny metal table in front of her and the annoying screech her chair had made when it was moved.  It was in the lack of a security camera on the wall and the fact that they weren’t in a police precinct. So that meant the man across from her, as well as the shockingly handsome one brooding in the corner, were not real cops, as they had claimed. And when they said that they had brought her to a safe-house… Well, that was probably a lie. Who knows where she was. Google would probably know – Google knew everything – and she would open her locator app in an instant to find out where the hell they had brought her, if they hadn’t confiscated her phone earlier for “processing”.

She snapped back to the conversation (ahem, interrogation, ahem) when the man with the tree trunks for arms spoke again. “You have quite a high IQ, Miss Smoak. And there is no shortage of people praising your IT skills, including your specialty in hacking.”

Tearing her eyes away from sexy broody man’s piercing blue eyes, Felicity focused on the bear of a man in front of her and his words. Making a face, she murmured in distaste, “Hacking is such an ugly word.”

Again, Digg – as he had introduced himself – cocked an eyebrow and crossed his massive arms, making her gulp. Her mother’s words filtered through her mind, _Never let them see you quake, honey. You do what you gotta do to keep your cool._

“So what would you call it?” Mr. Digg pressed.

“A hobby?” she provided, before hurriedly adding, “That I do not engage in.”

Mr. Digg outright chuckled and ohmyGod did she imagine it or did Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome’s lips quirk up in his version of a smile?

“Nice try, Miss Smoak. But we know all about you.”

This time, it was Felicity who cocked an eyebrow. “Do you?” she asked haughtily.

Mr. Digg smirked. “We do, Miss Smoak. Or should I call you… Overwatch.”

*******

Felicity stiffened. They couldn’t know. No one knew. She _always_ covered her tracks; in fact, she was outright obsessive about leaving no trace behind.

“Shouldn’t I have a lawyer present or something?” she asked with a hint of humor. After all, she had already figured out that they weren’t real cops. And while being fake arrested and taken to a creepy interrogation room by imposters should scare her, she didn’t exactly feel unsafe. Not physically, anyway.

Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome with the Piercing Blue Eyes spoke up for the first time. “I thought you said you didn’t do anything wrong.”

She paused, letting the deep timbre of his voice wash over her. A girl could fall for a voice like that. Not _her_ – of course not – , but a girl.

Felicity shrugged. “Better safe than sorry, right?”

“If you’re as innocent as you claim, Felicity Smoak, then you have no need for a lawyer.” Stepping forward, Mr. Blue Eyes laid the flats of his palms on the table in front of her and leaned down, getting into her personal space. “Unless you have something to confess?”

Felicity gulped. And while her pride wanted to say that it was only because she feared that her secret would be exposed, she never lied to herself. And that meant she had to admit that the proximity of the blue-eyed, rugged stranger affected her.

And in times like these, when she was overwhelmed and in trouble, her “high IQ” stepped in to save her. And that’s the only explanation she had for noticing what she did.

Mr. Blue Eyes, back in his “I’m a broody guy who uses caveman grunts as communication” (which you’ve gotta admit girls, is hot) was rubbing his thumb and forefinger together.

Felicity stilled, her mind whirring with the implication of that single action. It wasn’t random, it wasn’t meaningless. It was a tell. Felicity had grown up in Vegas and she knew… One tell can bring down an entire house of cards.

Her mind supplied her with drawings and photographs of known sightings of Starling City’s vigilante. Comparing it with the man quietly observing her, she saw it. The same jawline. The same tense set of broad shoulders. The same height and stature. The same ~~delicious~~ memorable scruff. And the most revealing of all, the same nervous tick.

The man who had fake-arrested her was the city’s personal vigilante.

Oh God.

She was _so_ dead.

***

Silence. Tense, awkward silence.

Felicity shifted her eyes from Mr. Digg to Mr. Blue Eyes – who still hadn’t deemed to supply his _real_ name, or any name at all – perhaps she should call him Mr. Hood. She was almost completely sure that he was the vigilante. They stared back at her, their faces impassive. Although she could see a hint of amusement in the darker man’s features.

They were trying to break her. They were staring at her with their intense and beautiful eyes until she broke down and talked. Yes sir, she knew their plan and it wasn’t gonna work. Nope, not at all. She wasn’t gonna say a word –

“This isn’t gonna work, you know.” she blurted out.

Mr. Hood smirked while Mr. Digg gave her a small smile. “What’s not gonna work?” he asked in an indulgent tone.

“This,” she continued, internally wishing she could shut up, “Your tactic. I’m not gonna talk.”

“You’re talking right now,” Mr. Hood with the Illegally Intense Blue Eyes pointed out.

She glared at him. “Yes, thank you for that Mr. Obvious, but I meant I’m not gonna talk about anything important.”

His smirk only grew wider while his eyes took on a challenging glint. Stupid face. Stupid, handsome, drool-worthy face.

Felicity harrumphed and turned back to Mr. Digg. She’d much rather deal with him. He didn’t make her feel… things. Like gooey chocolate and a hummingbird heart and butterflies in her tummy

“Look,” Mr. Digg sighed, “why don’t you just tell us what we want to know so we can let you go, hmm?”

Felicity snorted. “Uh yeah, like I believe you’re gonna let me go. Nuh uh, mister. No deal.”

Mr. Broody McBroodster (she just could _not_ settle on a nickname. He gave off so many different vibes, she couldn’t figure him out) stilled, unfolding his arms from across his chest and once again leaned towards her. “Why would you think we wouldn’t let you go?”

Felicity turned to look at him, slowly. “You said I have a high IQ. I do,” she stated simply.

“And what does that mean?” he demanded.

“It means,” Felicity answered, lowering her voice, “that I’ve figured you out.” A half-truth, but hopefully he wouldn’t know that.

Straightening up, Mr. Broody shook his head and walked back to his corner. “You don’t know anything.”

Felicity rolled her eyes. Guys and their macho egos. Needing to be mysterious and all.

“Whatever you say,” she shrugged.

He glared at her. She snorted, trying not to laugh. He glared harder.

Mr. Digg sighed. He looked like a weary father, tired of dealing with uncooperative children. Felicity snickered.

“You know, things would go a lot easier if you just confessed, Miss Smoak,” Mr. I-Glare-Like-I-Can-Shoot-Lasers-Out-of-My-Eyes said, trying to sound intimidating in his casual tone. Okay, he not only tried, but he succeeded. But Felicity wasn’t going to let her fear of discovery and apprehension at this situation show.

“I don’t have a confession. But maybe you do,” she replied, looking straight at the vigilante’s penetrating blue eyes.

He bristled, eyes narrowing as he studied her. Did he think she was bluffing?

“Look, Miss Smoak, why don’t you tell us what you think you know?” Mr. Digg asked.

Felicity shrugged. “Nah, I’m good.”

Mr. Vigilante With the Delicious Scruff let out a frustrated noise. It made Felicity smile. Hey, this was fun. She could do this all day.

Preferably not though. She had stuff to do. Important stuff. Stuff which she shouldn’t talk about with them, especially if they knew her alias. _Overwatch._ Gosh, no one has said that name to her face since… Well, since _him_. And that was a long time ago.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Felicity focused on what Mr. Digg was saying.  “You have to cooperate with us here.”

A hot flash of anger pulsed through her. Narrowing her eyes, she leaned forward and hissed, “ _Excuse_ me? You’re the guys who snatched me up when _I haven’t done anything wrong_. Oh no, I was just on my way to the supermarket to get some much-needed mint chip when you two giants did your intimidation act and got me to come with you. So no thank you, cooperation is not on my to-do list.”

There was only stunned silence after her rant. Flushed with embarrassment, Felicity leaned back in her chair, glaring at them.

After a beat, Mr. Hood came forward and leaned down, whispering something in Mr. Digg’s ear. Felicity tried to catch his words, but all she heard was “proof” and “time”.

Sighing, Mr. Digg nodded and got up, leaving the room.

Felicity’s eyes widened. She was alone with the vigilante, who was back in his corner, staring at her with lazy perusal.

Felicity gulped. This was _not_ good.

***

He was staring at her, his blue eyes boring intensely into her skull. She wasn’t gonna look him in the eye, nope, she was not. Distracting herself by reciting a poem in binary, Felicity resisted the urge to hum. He had to stop staring eventually, right?

Finally, Mr. Hood broke the silence. “We can either do this the easy way, or the hard way.”

Felicity snorted and rolled her eyes, that cliché finally making her meet his eyes.

“Really?” she asked incredulously.

He scowled. Felicity leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, her eyes challenging him. “And what exactly entails the hard way?”

He smirked, his expression taking an air of smugness. “The hard way is where I expose you for all you’ve done and let the authorities deal with you.”

“Ah ha! So you admit that you’re not legitimate authority?” She ignored his threat and the spike of fear it ignited in her. She told them she hasn’t done anything wrong, and she stands by that. But, well, she maaaybe perhaps possibly has done some illegal stuff.

Unlike she had hoped, his face didn’t fall at his slip-up. It remained smirky and smug and very very pretty.

“Let’s not insult both our intellect. We both know you’ve figured out we’re not cops five minutes into being in our company.”

Felicity gulped. “What do you want from me?”

For a long moment, the man in front of her simply looked at her, really _looked_. For the life of her, Felicity couldn’t look away. He stayed silent for so long that she stopped expecting an answer, but then he spoke, and he blew her away with his response.

“Your help.”

***

Felicity stared at the multiple files in front of her, papers strewn around the table in a pattern comprehensible to her (they probably didn’t trust her enough to hand her a tablet with the same information on it. Hmph). She couldn’t stop reading them, the information making her reel.

“What is this?” she whispered.

Mr. Hood – yes, she still didn’t know his name – had his mouth set in a grim line as he responded. “You’ve read the files. You know exactly what this is.”

Felicity shook her head in denial. “No. No. This _can’t_ be.”

“We’re not lying to you. The evidence speaks for itself,” Mr. Digg spoke from where he was standing behind his partner, who finally sat down in the chair in front of her.

She looked up at him, her hands shaking as she reached up to adjust her glasses. “If this information is accurate, then the entire city is in danger.”

Mr. Hood nodded, eyes hard. “Yes.”

Felicity leaned back in her chair, rubbing the side of her head. She was beginning to get a headache. “Why am I here? What can I do?”

“Your reputation precedes you. We know of your technical skills. We need it to help stop this device,” Mr. Digg said.

“Why like this though?”

An uncomfortable look crossed the older man’s face; he remained quiet.

“We were planning to blackmail you. Use the information we have against you to give you motivation to help,” Mr. Hood’s tone was casual, as if he were commenting on the weather.

Affronted and not just a little bit angry, Felicity glared at him. “You think I’d refuse to help after knowing what’s about to happen to the Glades? What kind of monster do you think I am?”

The man across from her stilled, eyes careful and calculating on hers. “Does that mean you’re in?”

Felicity took a deep breath; this felt like a significant moment in her life, a turning point. What came out of her mouth would seal her fate, for better or worse.

When her voice rang out in the “interrogation room”, it was strong and clear, determined in its resolution. “I’m in.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone was confused, Oliver here is not the CEO of Queen Consolidated or a super well-known person, that's why Felicity didn't recognize him.
> 
> I wrote this as kind of one-shot, but it's definitely something I'd like to come back to someday.  
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated ;)


End file.
